LL-L: "Orthography" [S] LOWLANDS-L, 31.MAY.1999 (01)

Mon May 31 19:45:32 UTC 1999

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From: "Ian James Parsley" <I.J.Parsley at newcastle.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: LL-L: "Orthography" [S] LOWLANDS-L, 30.MAY.1999 (01)

> Derrick's system:
>
> EI for the BEET class - creip, sheip, weit, seik, greit, veision, etc.
> AE for the BEAT class - baet, haet, haed, maet, daeth, braeth, faer, taem
> AI for the BAIT class - brain, main, aim, bait wait, said, raik, fair
>
> Andy's system:
>
> EE for the BEET class - creep, sheep, weet, seek, greet, veesion, etc.
> EI for the BEAT class - beit, heit, heid, meit, deith, breith, feir, teim
> AI for the BAIT class - brain, main, aim, bait wait, said, raik, fair

I niver kent aught anent thon - monie thenks, John! Ullans wud kythe
muckle differan thenoo - A'l hae anither kaek at ma aen system an
chynge it gin nott.
--------
Ian.

----------

From: "Sandy Fleming" <sandy at fleimin.demon.co.uk>
Subject: RE: LL-L: "Orthography" [S] LOWLANDS-L, 30.MAY.1999 (01)

John wrate in reply tae Andy:

> The prablem wi this kynd o approach - whitiver system ye suggestit - is at
> it's aye scuppered bi ideological ettles, e.g. ti dae awa wi EE cause it's
> English, or ti haud wi tradeitional spellins o words at micht be spelt the
> same e'en tho thay belang differin clesses, or different e'en tho thay
> belang the same ane. It's no easy ti pictur the RWS lobby adoptin
> aither EE
> spellins for the BEET class (e.g. dreech, speer) or AE anes for the BEAT
> class (e.g. haed, daed), or the SNDA adoptin onie systematic wey
> o sinderin
> spellins ava. Practically speakin, I think at yer suggestion o EE for the
> BEET class an EI for the BEAT class micht be the best ane, tho it
> dis leave
> the questin o whit ti dae wi words like _tradition_, etc. (I wad be for IE
> mysel - the E actin as a kynd o lenth sign for the etymological I, shawin
> the soond athoot breingin on the ither classes - but nae ither bodie likes
> that.)
>
A tend tae agree that Andy's spellin is the maist acceptable o the twae, tho
juist wi hou the spellins generally faa nearer the tradeitional anes.

Houaniver, ma ideas aboot _practical_ spellin seestems hiv chynged a fair
bit fae A last haed a shot at makkin a orthography - hivin feinished (weel,
vernear) the first screive o a novel in Scots fae syne, aa A'm interestit in
is what orthography'll _sell_!

It's a peity, but it seems tae me that until the government or somelike lay
doun the rules as tae a offeicial spellin, the spellin that maist writers'll
uize'll be the ane maist readers'll read - an for the nou that means a
fairly ad hoc orthography - it's what fowk's uized wi. A try tae some extent
tae gaun like you an Andy suggest an as faur as "purely Scots" words gauns
it's nae bather - the trouble starts, as uizual, whan ye try an write a word
fae the shared Scots/English vocabular. Efter a page o'd ye can see richt
awa that ye'v written something that vernear aa o the 1.5 million Scots
spaekers'll tak ae keik at an pit richt back on the shelf. Syne hivin gien
in tae that, A micht as weel gie in tae a rowth o kenspeckle tradeitional
Scots spellins an aa, for the sake o sales.

If the pairlament or someplace wad lay doun preceese guidlines an teachers
learn bairns them in the schuil, syne in _fifteen or twinty year_ oo micht
can print novels in this orthography an expect them tae sell. The'r nae pynt
writin in a mensefu orthography if naebody but you, me an Derrick McClure's
gaun a read it!

It winna catch on if naebody'll read it, an A'm no waitin till 2020 tae git
published, even if A wis shuir A mensefu orthography wis gaun a be
estaiblished in the schuils ithin a year or twae!

Sandy Fleiman
http:\\www.fleimin.demon.co.uk

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